Table of contents

Stigand

Author: SDB

Editorial Status: unknown

Discussion of the name

The name derives from ON Stígandr. It is formed from the present participle of the ON verb stíga, ‘to walk’, and means ‘he who goes with long strides’ or ‘the swift-footed one’ (Insley 1985: 34−5). It is usually rendered Stigand or Stigandus in Domesday Book, although the forms Stingandus and Stangandus also occur. The Alecto and Phillimore editions both use the form Stigand. The name was rare in Anglo-Saxon England. The PASE database lists 7 people called Stigand, whose names occur in documents other than Domesday Book; however 4 of these (Stigand 1, 2, 3 and 4) were almost certainly the same person, and the remaining three were Normans whose names occur only in post-Conquest documents. The name is more frequently attested in documents relating to the Normans in Normandy and southern Italy before 1066 (Fauroux 1961: 540; Adigard des Gautries 1954: 315−7).